Neuqua snares Elgin crown
Elgin seemed to be knocking down shots from everywhere in the first half in its attempt to win its own boys basketball tournament for the 11th time and the first time in 11 years.
That included a 30-foot bomb at the halftime buzzer by Jordan Dean right in front of Todd Sutton near the Neuqua Valley bench Thursday night at Chesbrough Field House.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, Sutton couldn't stop him since he's the team's coach.
“Anyone can make that if they're not guarded and we didn't guard them,” Sutton said. “They were really on the verge of knocking us out in the first half.”
But Neuqua fought back defensively to rally from a 9-point deficit in the first minute of the second half for a 56-53 victory in the championship game of the 36th annual Elgin Holiday Tournament.
“It's a great thing,” junior guard Tyler Sutton said of the Wildcats third Elgin title in five years. “All year long we've been in close games and we've been used to it.
“Elgin put on the pressure and we didn't do very well but luckily we came through at the end.”
Jim Stocki (12 points) and Sam Johnson (10 points) were all-tourney picks for Neuqua (13-0) but Sutton (11 points), sophomore Jabari Sandifer and Nathan Boudreau delivered clutch fourth-quarter plays. Sandifer forced Elgin (9-3) sophomore Arie Williams into an off-balance 12-footer for the lead that rimmed off with three seconds left.
Neuqua was only 9-for-18 on free throws but Sandifer made both ends of a 1-and-1 with 0.8 seconds left. Dean (19 points) got a tying attempt from the corner off a floor-length pass but it was off the mark.
“It really hurts after all of the hard work we've been doing,” said Williams, who had 13 points.
“Live by the sword, die by the sword,” Elgin coach Mike Sitter said of his team's semifinal win on all-tourney pick Dennis Moore's 3 at the overtime buzzer. “Last night we hit the shot and tonight we didn't hit the shot.”
Elgin hit 13 of its first 25 shots and 5-for-12 behind the 3-point arc for a 32-23 lead 49 seconds into the second half. Dean fueled the roll with 14 second-quarter points.
“Coach said anyone can make an open shot,” Sutton said. “He told us, ‘high-hand closeouts' and they'll miss most of their shots.”
Elgin went just 6-for-19 with its only 3 from all-tourney pick Kory Brown (12 points, 12 rebounds) in the final 15 minutes.
“They got real physical … and we didn't play our best basketball,” Williams said.
Stocki scored 10 third-quarter points and gave Neuqua its first lead since the first quarter on a 3-point play to make it 41-40 with 40 seconds left in the third. A driving 3-point play by Moore gave Elgin its last lead at 46-44 with 6:55 left.
Neuqua scored the next 7 points as Sandifer found Sutton for his third 3, Johnson hit Sandifer for a layup and Boudreau scored off a miss.
“Everyone chips in a little bit,” Todd Sutton said. “It's someone different every night.”
Williams' steal and 2 free throws with 27.6 seconds left got Elgin within 54-53 and Neuqua missed a 1-and-1 with 14 seconds left. Sitter didn't use a timeout but had a play designed for Moore to go 1-on-1 and look for someone in the post or kick it to a shooter on the wing.
Those options didn't materialize and Williams had to try and beat the clock.
“I tried to get to the basket as quickly as possible,” Williams said.
“It wasn't our goal to finish second,” Sitter said. “It's been our goal to win it so it is disappointing.
“There are no moral victories here this year. Now our next goal is to win the Upstate Eight (River division).”